The University Of North Carolina At Asheville
Faculty Senate Minutes
November 17, 1977
The Faculty Senate met Thursday, November 17, 1977, at 3:30 p.m.
in RL1 with Dr. Browning, chairman, presiding.
Members present: Dr. Browning, Dr. Andrade, Mr. Bernhardt,
Dr. Boland, Dr. Bruce, Dr. Cole, Dr. Farzanegan, Dr. Gillum,
Dr. Howard, Dr. O'Donnell, Dr. Perry, Dr. Shoaf, Dr. Squibb,
Dr. Stern, Dr. Walker, Dr. Wilson.
Visitors present: Dr. Bauman, Mr. Coyle, Dr. Highsmith,
Dr. Mock, Dr. Otti, Mr. Parsons, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Rosenblatt,
Dr. Seitz, Dr. Vinson.
Speaking privileges were granted to visitors.
The minutes of the October 31 meeting were approved as published.
Dr. Browning welcomed Dr. Highsmith back to the campus and to the
Senate meeting. He said the Chancellor had some things to
discuss with the Senate and turned the meeting over to him.
Dr. Highsmith said it was good to be back. He expressed his
thanks to the Senate and all the faculty for their many
expressions of concern during his illness. He said he was not
yet putting in a full day but that he hoped after Thanksgiving to
be back to a full work load. A good deal of progress occurred
while he was away he said and this was what he wanted to discuss
with the Senate today. First, with regard to the UNC-A/WCU
relationship, Dr. Highsmith read a paragraph from the newly
adopted long range plan (attached). He said this was different
from what was recommended to Dr. Friday, that a much more
detailed program was presented. He said this placed the entire
burden of responsibility on Dr. Friday. Dr. Highsmith then read
a paragraph from a letter to Dr. Friday written by Acting
Chancellor King dated October 25 (attached). He said that when
he returned to campus in early November this was one of the first
things Dr. King showed him and that he wrote Dr. Friday,
restating this paragraph, and said that he supported it. He said
that the authority to decide and take action was presented to Dr.
Friday by the Board of Governors and that he (Dr. Highsmith) had
until December 31 to send in a proposal about the matter.
Obviously, he said, it was very important that we get some
decision on this. It effects the FTE, the scheduling, the
allocation of faculty positions, etc. He said he would hope that
by the end of January or mid-February there would be a formal
statement made as to what is to be done.
Second, also as part of the long range planning, was the approval
of planning for a B.S. degree in Atmospheric Sciences and
Meteorology. Dr. Highsmith said this program was tied to the
National Climate Control office moving to campus. This move has
been approved by the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors,
and is now before the Council of State. It is also tied up in
government red tape. NCC is the largest tenant in the Federal
Building and naturally the government wishes to be assured of
another agency moving into this space before they release the
NCC.
Another issue at hand is the relationship between UNC and HEW.
Dr. Highsmith said that the newspapers had centered around only
one issue - the 150% increase of Blacks in enrollment. President
Friday has said that we cannot do this and has submitted a
revised proposal to HEW. Dr. Highsmith read portions of the
proposal submitted by HEW calling for the same percentage of
Blacks entering college as whites, the same percentage
graduating, and the same percentage entering graduate schools.
Dr. Friday, when he met with the Office of Civil Rights in
Washington in August, asked how we could, with academic
integrity, make sure that the percentage of Black students who
graduate could be the same. The answer was that academic
standards could not be used as a means to prevent the
accomplishing of the goals. Dr. Highsmith said he was sure
everyone could understand why the UNC system was objecting to the
program that is being required by HEW.
With regard to the U.S. Forest Service moving to campus, Dr.
Highsmith said this was progressing more rapidly than the NCC
matter. He said this had been approved by the Board of Trustees,
the Board of Governors, and is now before the Council of State,
and that money had also been appropriated for the Forest Service
to pay for architectural work in planning for this facility.
The last matter the Chancellor wished to discuss was that the
Board of Trustees, at its July meeting, voted to amend the Tenure
Document which, on our campus, is called "Tenure Policies and
Regulations." This document was approved in February of 1976 by
the Board of Governors. He said there were a number of areas
where improvements could be made. Any changes will come to the
Senate and the Senate will participate in the drafting of
proposals to amend the document. He said the ultimate authority
was with the Board of Governors, but that there would be no
formal changes made until the proposed changes were approved
through various procedures. Until that time the tenure policies
and regulations as they now stand will remain in tact and
operation.
There was general discussion regarding our relationship with WCU,
ways to increase black enrollment, and new programs.
Dr. Browning call on Dr. Wilson for a report from the Faculty
Welfare Committee.
Dr. Wilson stated that Faculty Welfare Committee minutes were
distributed at the beginning of the meeting and that he hoped
everyone had a chance to read them. He said the committee did
not have a proposal about the disposition of the resolution
submitted by Dr. Walker at the first Senate meeting but he did
feel there were some positive things to report. First, in the
second paragraph of the minutes the Chancellor stated that "every
employee had the right to inspect his personnel file and to offer
rebuttal to any negative contents." The Chancellor reported that
a significant number of faculty do come in and look at their
files. Also, in the fifth paragraph, the Chancellor said "it is
his normal practice to have copies of such items, positive or
negative, sent to the person concerned and entered into the file
along with any response." The last paragraph points out that the
Faculty Welfare Committee is revising the faculty handbook and as
a result of this resolution it proposed to put in a paragraph
concerning personnel files. Also, any material a faculty member
wishes to put in his personnel file may be submitted for
inclusion. Dr. Wilson said the minutes were really the Faculty
Welfare Committee's report. He said the minutes would be
circulated to the entire faculty. The Chancellor also indicated
in the meeting that one of the outcomes of the review of the
tenure document might be that final decision on reappointments
and promotions would rest with the Vice Chancellor for Academic
Affairs. This would affect the handling of personnel files. Dr.
Wilson said that in any case, the Faculty Welfare Committee
intends to make contact with the new Vice Chancellor and keep
working on personnel matters.
It was agreed by the Senate that this was a proper way of
handling the matter.
Dr. Farzanegan said he wanted to commend the Faculty Welfare
Committee for the work it has done.
Dr. Browning said he had received a memo from Mr. Pott requesting
that consideration be given to the inclusion of one or two SPA
employees to sit in on meetings that pertain to SPA matters, such
as insurance, etc. He said any questions or opinions relating to
this should be addressed to the Faculty Welfare Committee.
Dr. Walker, chairman of the Academic Policies Committee, said he
did not have a report at this time but that since the last Senate
meeting a lot of business had come to APC. He said a meeting was
scheduled for Tuesday, November 22.
Dr. Cole, chairman of the Institutional Development Committee,
said this committee had begun discussion of the 5-year plan. He
said the committee recognized that there was an apparatus on this
campus to generate the kind of data needed for long range
planning and that the committee had requested to meet with Dr.
Dula, Mr. Felder, and the Vice Chancellor to simply discuss this
problem and to try to explore ways in the future to cope with the
matter.
Dr. Browning asked for any new business.
Dr. Cole said he would like to express a minor irritation on his
own part concerning the announcement of the faculty meeting
scheduled for Monday, November 21. He felt the notices should
have been sent out earlier.
Dr. Otti said that along that same line, several faculty had
heard rumors that there was a grants person on campus and she
felt some announcement should be made regarding this.
Dr. Browning stated that Dr. Trullinger had requested that the
Senate be able to meet with each candidate for the Vice
Chancellor position. Dr. Trullinger hopes to have candidates on
campus the weeks of November 28, December 5, December 12, January
9, and January 16. There will be a Senate meeting each of these
weeks. These meetings will be announced. Dr. Browning asked if
the Senate wanted to have open meetings with the candidates. It
was felt that the faculty should feel free to attend the
meetings.
The meeting adjourned at 4:50 pm.
APPROVED: Jack Wilson Jacquelyn Peterson
Faculty Senate Secretary Secretary
(Attached)
Paragraph from Long-Range Plan pertaining to UNC-A/WCU:
There remains a need to establish a clearer definition of
responsibility for each of the institutions in the offering of
undergraduate instruction in Asheville. Accordingly, the
President will ask the Chancellor of The University of North
Carolina at Asheville and of Western Carolina University to
submit to him, by December 31, 1977, their recommendations for an
appropriate division of responsibility in the area of
undergraduate instruction. The president will then take action
to define the responsibility of each institution, effective with
the beginning of the fall semester, 1978, and shall report on
this matter to the Committee on Educational Planning, Policies,
and Programs.
Paragraph from letter to Dr. Friday from Dr. King dated October
25, 1977:
It is my opinion that a fair division of responsibility
would be that of allocating the administration and provision of
instructional services for all undergraduate study carried on by
the University in the Asheville area to the Asheville campus.
The students would be admitted here, they would be registered
here, and their records would be kept here, and the academic
authorities here would be responsible for providing faculty
drawn, whenever necessary, from the faculty of Western Carolina
University to maintain satisfactory programs of instruction or,
over a period of time, be authorized to employ additional faculty
that might be warranted by FTE enrollment.